Part 90: Blackwell Epiphany - Update 15 (Part 2)

Back to the gym, where Rosa is finally able to let herself in.

That picture frame fell off the wall. Nobody's picked it up yet.

Now, this picture frame on the floor annoyed me earlier, so I have Rosa pick it up.



Much better.

Nobody can say I don't do anything nice.



Taking a closer look, it's actually a picture of the gym's founder, Connor Fielding! I guess that must be his service number. Turns out it was just lying around after all!



Now, there's actually another photo here. Who is this?

Looks like an autographed headshot.
Probably someone famous who uses the gym. Let's see here...



"Tanya Corsey..." Hey, wait a second. Is that... yeah. That's the spook from George's roof.

Huh, so it is! At least we have her name, at last. In fact, we could have checked this out earlier, when Joey first came into the gym, but since we're going to finish dealing with Peter for now, there was no rush to look at it too early.



Now, we saw earlier that Peter came out to check his calendar when Joey asked to make an appointment.

The month is written at the top in dry-erase marker.

The trick here is to change the date so that Peter thinks it is the anniversary of his father's death. Hopefully he'll then visit the graveyard, and then perhaps Joey's prediction about ghosts being "unable to think of anything but death" will pay off.



It's a bit of a long shot, but let's give it a go. Fortunately, this calendar is easy to alter! Rosa changes the date to March 18th...



...and Joey heads back to talk to Peter about his personal training session.

Sure. We can do that. Let's go check the calendar outside.

Excellent. Peter floats into the main gym area.



Oh. Um. Sorry.

Hahahaha Poor Rosa.

No problem. Just be sure to put on sneakers or something if you want to work out here. Anyway. Let's check the schedule.
...



Looks like things are working as planned, for a change!

Hey. Listen. I'm sorry, but there's an appointment that I have to keep.
Can we sort this out another day?
Sure. No problem.
Thanks.

Peter quickly phases outside and is on his way. Joey and Rosa give it a minute before heading after him.



On the way out, Joey asks Rosa about Tanya Corsey.

Tanya Corsey? Was she in the gym?
No. It's the name of our roof spook. Is she famous or something?
You could say that. She has a TV show.
I think you mean she HAD a TV show. Let's get going.

A television star, hey? We'll deal with her later. For now, it's back to Greenwood Cemetery.

Greenwood Cemetery



Rosa and Joey find Peter staring solemnly at his father's grave. Joey tries talking to him.

Hey. Peter?
Oh. Hey. Look, I really want to be alone right now. We'll talk later, okay?
Sure. No problem.

I guess it hasn't worked out just yet.



I guess we should find out more about him.

Well, we do know his service number now. Perhaps Cory can help us out this time?



Seriously, by now Cory must be wondering how we keep coming up with this stuff

That should be all I need. Let's see... Okay. Here we go. Connor Fielding. Servied in Vietnam from 1966 till 1969. Honorably discharged. Moved with his family to New York a few years later... Huh. That's interesting.
What?
It says here that police were called to his apartment several times. Reports of raised voices. Possible domestic abuse.

Oh geez. I'm not sure I like where this is going.

No charges were pressed, which is why it wasn't in our police records.
But it's in a military database?
Word gets around. Someone must have noted it in his VA file. Doesn't say much else.



Rosa isn't sure what to make of this.

Well, there's no evidence to support anything, of course. But... nothing changes, does it? Some guy has trouble and takes it out on his family. Someone calls the cops on him, but no charges are pressed. Happens way too often.
And that's what you think happened here?
Like I said. Nothing changes.

Suddenly it makes sense why Maggie has been acting a bit strange about her father. I think it might be time to pay her another visit.

Maggie's Theme



Let's see if we can get her to say a bit more, now.

You did?
The police were called several times to his house. No charges were made. It's not hard to read between the lines.
Huh. Well, I suppose you know everything now.

Looks like she's pretty much admitting that Rosa is right.

I don't. But I'm trying to.
Why? Why do you care so much?

Rosa can respond in multiple ways. She can say that she can't explain it:

I can't tell you.
... Right. I'm done.

She can fall back to her usual response about there being "something bigger going on":

There's something bigger going on.
That doesn't matter. I can't take on anybody else's problems. I'm barely dealing with my own.

Or she can say she's got her own reasons:

I have my reasons.
So do I. There's a reason why I can't talk about this.



Finally, Maggie outright admits it Sounds like she's had a difficult life.

I've been trying to forget this crap my whole life. And now I have a chance. I'm not going back to... THAT.



Maggie then asks Rosa to leave.

Listen-
Please. Leave!
...Okay.

No point getting her too worked up. Sadly, Rosa turns tail and leaves.



You have such a way with people.



Before Rosa leaves the building, however, the door opens up. Maggie seems to have put on a coat.

Just leaving. Where are you going?
To visit my precious father. Not that it's any of your business. My neighbors are kinda twitchy. You'd better get out of here before someone calls the cops.

Huh. That might actually work in our favour - we might be able to force a "meeting" between Peter and Maggie, even if Peter will be the only one to realise it.

Greenwood Cemetery



Sure enough, Rosa and Joey find both Peter and Maggie contemplating their father's grave.

She looks like she stopped caring about anything years ago.
She seems less angry than she was before, but not by much.
If you're gonna do something, better do it quick. She doesn't look like she appreciates you being here.

Peter doesn't even seem to have realised anyone else has arrived.



Rosa decides to break the ice, and attracts Peter's attention at the same time.

Huh?
Huh. I had a feeling you'd follow me here.

Maggie is obviously responding to Rosa, but in his confused state, Peter thinks she's talking to him.

I didn't follow you. You got here after I did.
You're not going to leave me alone, are you?
You know I try and help you out whenever I can.
Not until I spill everything?
I've never pressured you to talk to me, Maggie. Although God knows, maybe I should have.

Well, this is a unique opportunity. Rosa can prompt Maggie into responding to whatever questions Peter has, and we might be able to help him to move on in the process. It's kind of reminiscent of the Tiffany/Ken scene in Deception.

I'm sorry, but it's important.
...
Maybe it's because I'm out of that stuffy apartment. Maybe it's because, when I'm here, I know he's really gone.
I know. I miss him too.

It doesn't sound like Peter had the same issues with his father that Maggie does.



I guess this is a big moment for Maggie.

My sponsor said I didn't have to do them in order. Many people don't. I guess now is as good a time as any.
I'd like that, Maggie. I really would.
So. Talk.

Looks like it's now or never. Rosa starts to prompt her.

Tell me about your father.
It's not about him. Not really. It's all wrapped up with Peter. It's always Peter.
What are you talking about?

We definitely want to follow up on that.



Nothing. Everything.
Maggie. What are you talking about?
*sigh* He took over my dad's gym. Made it successful. I hated him for it.

Aha. That's why she doesn't like Peter. She hated her dad, and Peter was keeping his name and assets going even after he died. Unfortunately, poor Peter doesn't understand it at all.

Wait, what? Don't you remember how miserable I was? Drifting from job to job. Hating all of them.
Running dad's gym was something I was good at! I thought you'd be happy for me.



Rosa keeps pushing for responses to Peter's concerns.

Couldn't you be happy for him?
Happy? Happy that he took my father's name and made it... revered?
I don't see the problem here.
The people in the neighborhood LOVE that gym. They come by and say what a nice old man Connor Fielding was. And what a shame he died, and how NICE that his son took up his legacy. Legacy.



Looks like we're keeping our 100% strike rate of depressing ghost stories alive here

Bruises? What are you talking about?
You always believed her when she said she was clumsy. It was like some horrible after school special.
Maggie. You are not saying what I think you are saying.

In some sense, Maggie is actually talking to Peter here, although obviously without realising that he's listening in. I guess she's working through the things she wishes she had said while he was still alive.

You never knew. Did you, Peter? So wrapped up in yourself. You never saw what he was doing.
Why didn't you ever tell me?
Mom hid it from both of us, and I was too scared to say anything. In the end, it was easier just to say nothing. And hate you. And now it's too late. For what it's worth, I don't hate you anymore, Peter. But I need to get on with my life.



Finally having had enough, Maggie decides to leave, but not before wiping the snow off a third gravestone.

Goodbye? What do you mean, goodbye?

Maggie faces up sadly to Rosa.

Um. Sorry. I should go.
Maggie. Wait!



Of course, from Peter's perspective, Maggie has just stormed off in the middle of such an important conversation. Gilbert actually does a very believable job of having Peter sound horrified and confused.

I never knew!
I swear. I never knew. I just... don't understand.

This whole scene is kind of heartbreaking, really



Suddenly, Peter notices the name on the gravestone - his own name. And the realisation hits him.

My God...
I'm sorry, Peter.
I remember... The ladder. It broke.

Looks like he's fully aware now.

...



Oh shit, that's right. The soul-splitting thing! Joey jumps into action.

Right. We don't have a lot of time. Peter, I need you to grab a hold of this.
What the heck is that thing?
No time. Just grab!



Peter takes the totem, and is immediately teleported away.

Well. That was close.
Did it work?
Let's get back and find out.


Tomorrow we'll go back and check in with Michael, Madeline, and now Peter as well. Hopefully Madeline will be able to learn something from studying Peter, and in the mean time we'll do our best to deal with Heather. No doubt Tanya is also involved in this story somehow, though it's not at all clear where she fits in just yet. See you all here tomorrow!





We know that spirit guides pass on from Bestower to Bestower via family links. Joey himself went from Patricia, to her niece Lauren, and eventually her granddaughter Rosa.

In fact, there are more family connections than players would likely have picked up on. The following certainly surprised me.

Jocelyn is distantly related to Rosa

This is definitely one of those things that was planned by Gilbert, but which never actually made into the games themselves in any meaningful way. The idea is that Jocelyn was either an aunt, or possibly a slightly more distant relative than that, of Patricia. It seems quite likely that Jocelyn's relation to Patricia could even be the reason Joey ends up with her, though we still don't really know what the hell Jocelyn actually did or how Joey ended up as a spirit guide at all. I'll talk more about that in another update.

So is it mentioned in the series at all? Kind of, but not really. Back in Unbound, The Countess remarks to Lauren that "you're like me" and so forth. It seemed obvious to assume that this was referring purely to the fact that they were both Bestowers, but Gilbert claims there was more to the subtext there.

Unfortunately, with a number of Gilbert's other ideas lost to the cutting-room floor, there is no natural way to make this connection from simply playing the games. Gilbert says that he had intended to give Jocelyn an inventory item in the flashback scenes of Epiphany, which would be a letter from a distant cousin announcing the birth of Patricia, but that he couldn't come up with any good reason why Jocelyn would be carrying the letter around, and eventually decided to scrap the idea..

As I alluded to in an earlier Word of God update, there was also going to be another Blackwell game in which the player controlled Jocelyn and Madeline, where much more of their backstory was going to be revealed. In particular, we would have seen where Jocelyn first learned how to shift the link. Gilbert explains: "One of the game ideas was to have two stories going on at the same time, but in the same place. A haunted house on Long Island, which was investigated by Jocelyn/Madeline in the 30s and again by Rosa/Joey in the present day. It was one of Jocelyn's first cases with Madeline, and during the course of that story she would have learned how to do the whole "moving link" thing. In the end, I decided to cut that installment because it didn't add very much to the overall story. Investing all that time, money and effort just to establish that "This thing happened once" didn't seem terribly efficient. Plus, aside from the basic concept, I couldn't think of anything to do with it. It was a tremendous muddle." Despite Gilbert's negativity towards the project, I think it actually sounds like it would have been pretty cool. But then maybe that's just because I get a Day of the Tentacle vibe from it.

In the end, with the character of Jocelyn left completely unexplored until the final game in the series, Gilbert ended up not bothering to pursue the whole distant relative thing, and it's not really important to the story - but I still find it interesting! And yes, I suppose that means that Lauren killed her great aunt or whatever it is. Ouch.